Avoid it... if you are prepared to issue your own fatwa against
shamelessly bombastic, mystically loving music that relies upon
overwhelming execution values rather than intellectual prowess to
bolster what essentially serves as a propaganda venture.

EDITORIAL REVIEW

FILMTRACKS TRAFFIC RANK: #1,833

WRITTEN
3/7/16

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Rahman

Muhammad: The Messenger of God (A.R. Rahman) For
those of you tired of witnessing the seemingly endless stream of movies
about the life of Jesus Christ, most of which containing about as much
fiction as any epic set in ancient Earth, then at least there is,
finally, as of 2015, a massive cinematic production about the Islamic
prophet Muhammad. It, too, contains about as much fiction as any epic
about ancient Earth, but one has to credit leading Iranian filmmaker
Majid Majidi for spending eight years of his life obsessing about the
making Muhammad: The Messenger of God, especially when
considering the fact that many in Islam strictly forbid any artistic
depiction of the prophet to begin with. Blessed by Iran's Supreme
Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he forged ahead with the $40 million
Arabic-language production, Iran's most expensive movie ever assembled,
and was, perhaps as a rebuke from his deity, slapped with a scholarly
fatwa, condemnation from Sunni Arab countries, mixed reviews from Shia
critics, and, perhaps most humiliatingly, terrible performance at Iran's
box office. Its plot was meant to be the first of a trilogy (don't hold
your breath for those sequels), showing the Islamic religion's account
of history from about a month prior to the prophet's birth until his
thirteen year, a period of time criticized by some reviewers of the
movie as being relatively uninteresting in the prophet's life and
therefore not worthy of any $40 million. Guided by the unyielding faith
of its crew, the production of Muhammad: The Messenger of God
extended well beyond Iran, eventually requiring post-production work
across Europe. Such was especially the case with the film's original
score, tackled for more than a year and a half by leading Bollywood
composer A.R. Rahman. While it may seem like an odd match for Westerners
not familiar with Rahman beyond his major hits in India and sporadic
forays into Hollywood, the composer, raised an atheist, converted to
Islam in 1989 and has been influenced by Sufism in his family. He
dedicated himself to Muhammad: The Messenger of God with much the
same devotion that John Debney famously admitted towards The Passion
of the Christ, Rahman taking six months simply to generate ideas
that properly matched the tone of Majidi's film.

When you think about epic religious scores nowadays, you
imagine a plethora of Middle Eastern specialty instruments, choral
magnificence based upon religious texts, the might of a Western
orchestra, and an overload of brilliantly shiny harmonic resonance.
Despite Rahman's reported toils to find the right sound for Muhammad:
The Messenger of God, he landed squarely in the middle of this
religious epic film score stereotype. If his year and a half of
discovery during the composition and recording of this score was meant
to find a new avenue of religious film music expression, or if Rahman
was interested in avoiding a fatwa issued against him personally, then
he failed miserably on both counts. It doesn't take much imagination to
ponder why a scholarly fatwa issued by a Sunni Muslim organization was
leveled at Rahman (seemingly nullifying, of all delightful things, the
legitimacy of his marriage) for this score, because subtlety is not
exactly the technique he chose to utilize here. If you're not even
supposed to depict a prophet on screen in the first place, then who can
blame any pious type for getting his rear end in a knot over a
composer's massively rendered, bombastic explosion of largely
Western-influenced music for that very depiction? Still, collectors of
film music across all faiths, including the intriguingly high ratio of
intellectual atheists among them, recognize that religious music
involving glorification has yielded some of the most entertainingly
beautiful scores of all time. Rahman, disregarding any notion of
modesty, blasts forth with yet another of cinema's great epic scores
based on faith. In so doing, he references successful techniques from
the likes of John Debney, Mychael and Jeff Danna, Basil Poledouris, Mark
McKenzie, and Hans Zimmer for similarly expansive modern efforts
requiring more than just a touch of blissful magnificence and/or ethnic
authenticity. He recorded Muhammad: The Messenger of God across
no less than eight countries, employing instrumental and vocal soloists
for application with and without the hefty mix of an orchestra recorded
in Germany. For those familiar with Rahman's collaboration with Craig
Armstrong for Elizabeth: The Golden Age in 2007, know that
orchestrator and conductor Matt Dunkley carries over to Muhammad: The
Messenger of God, and some of the broad scale that Dunkley
periodically contributes to Armstrong's works was likely a contributing
factor in this work, too.

When considering any epic religious score, you generally
have two elements you have to weigh in evaluating whether the music can
carry itself apart from the film and, to some degree, appease listeners
who find "glorification music" distasteful. First, there is the obvious
resonance factor. Does Muhammad: The Messenger of God blow you
out of your seat with its tonal depth? At several points, yes. This is,
during its action and miracle sequences, a stunningly resounding work.
More importantly, does the score utilize its regional specialty
instruments and vocals with competence, especially in their mix? On this
point, Rahman especially succeeds. Anyone can throw in a solo line here
and there for oud, ney, duduk, saz, flutes, percussion, and vocals
simply for sonic color, but the spotting and mix of these contributors
in Muhammad: The Messenger of God is the prevailing triumph of
the whole work. Softer sequences featuring these elements are worthy of
high volume appreciation, for the techniques of performance are
superior. For instance, the duduk is perhaps underused but beautiful
when applied, its performance near the end of "The Land of Friendship"
absolutely divinely recorded and mixed over oud. Composing two of the
more atmospheric cues and contributing to others is "Le Trio Joubran," a
respected group of three Palestinian brothers on ouds. Operatic female
vocals are a highlight as well, though Rahman doesn't let the
opportunity pass without infusing several cues with full-throated,
male-dominated choral magnificence befitting a vintage Zimmer entry.
Aside from the ensemble and tonality, you also must consider the
emotional tone and thematic development of the score. In the case of the
former, you'll realize that Muhammad: The Messenger of God is
really the opposite of The Passion of the Christ in that it is
both accessible and loving in almost all of its parts. There is not a
troubling moment in this score. Even amidst its most striking bombast in
"The Sea Miracle," Rahman throws in interludes for female voice that
flow with the melodic grace you'd expect in a Broadway love song. This
is not an emotionally overbearing score, therefore, and, with the aid of
its ethnic colors, it is less likely to turn away listeners because of
any outright religious offense. The exception to this observation may be
the chords of the "miracle fanfare" motif, which chant away in
unrestrained orchestral and vocal majesty at the outset of "The Sea
Miracle" and the song, "Ya Muhammad."

Thematically, Rahman explores a wide variety of motifs
throughout Muhammad: The Messenger of God, six of which recurring
in major form and a number of others seemingly contained to individual
applications in the film, the action cues especially meandering through
solitary but impressive motifs at will. Two themes in particular stand
apart in their placement and frequency. The first sounds like something
of a journey identity, introduced with vocal chanting and full ensemble
at 0:39 into "Ababeel" and reduced to solo cello at 1:09 into "And He
Was Named Muhammad" and 1:42 into "Through the Sands." Its reduction
from percussive rhythmic enthusiasm at 1:18 in "The Camel's Divine
Intervention" to solo oud is notable. More evenly balanced in the score
is the primary religious identity, one that may be mocked as being more
appropriate a resident within Zimmer's The Prince of Egypt than
here, especially with its relatively simple brass and choral
performances. You encounter this theme in restrained form at 1:41 into
"And He Was Named Muhammad" (after all, the guy's just a wee tot at this
point) before muscular brass and woodwinds develop the idea at 3:23 into
"Abraha." This theme's performances continue to gain momentum and size,
by 1:12 into "Halima's Healing" the idea morphing into its massive
culmination complete with elegantly wailing female voice. Not to be
outdone, the theme is offered large choral treatment at 0:36 into "The
Last Hajj of Abdul Mutallib." Secondary themes of note include a lovely
one of solo female vocals for the mother at 1:02 into "The Birth"
(passed nicely to flute and cello) and 1:20 into "A Mother's Advice to
Her Son." A preaching theme of sorts is heard later in the score, softly
dominating "Protecting the Innocent" and "The Sermon." Three distinct
miracle-related motifs exist, and all are summarized in "The Sea
Miracle." First is the aforementioned choral pronouncement fanfare
(repeating twice in the cue with all the pomp one could muster) that
also opens the closing song. Second comes a gorgeous string idea at 0:29
that had been heard from solo female voice at 3:25 into "Protecting the
Innocent," transitioning into fragments of the main journeying theme.
Later in "The Sea Miracle," Rahman develops a swaying, romantic identity
out of the prior religious theme to ensure the cue's total resonance.
Finally, you have the underlying rhythm of Rahman's song, "Ya Muhammad,"
previewed at 2:33 into "Through the Sands" before leading to a more
typical Rahman endeavor featuring his own voice in the song.

The vocal layers in the song, "Ya Muhammad," are well
executed, and the rhythmic backing is a tasteful balance of traditional
lyrical prayer and Rahman's more contemporary stylings (an electric bass
helps there), no small feat. Enthusiasts of the composer can enjoy his
vocal contributions in two earlier score cues as well. Don't expect to
hear an abundance of "typical" Rahman techniques when comparing this
score to those in the West; instead, one of the major drawbacks of this
work is how often it will remind you of others' music. In essence, it's
a feeling of temp-track adherence despite the composer's reportedly
laborious process of discovery. At times, some of the references are a
little humorous, as in the similarities to Poledouris' The Hunt for
Red October at about 4:40 into "Ababeel." There are only so many
ways you can convey massive orchestral and choral magnificence of such
relative simplicity, however, so you have to approach the four or five
action cues with this caveat in mind. The score's most impressive
portions are often its less noisy, the balance between percussion, oud,
and orchestra late in "Makkah 740 AD," as well as the ney flute and
singular vocalizations in "And He was Named Muhammad (SAL)," offering
unexpected highlights. The recording is generally fantastic, though
there is gain clipping in the choral middle portion of "The Last Hajj of
Abdul Mutallib," among other parts. Such problems are not as noticeable
outside of headphone appreciation, however. Soloists are nurtured by the
mix, expressing their layers with varying reverb (the solo vocals reach
the stereotypical descriptor of "haunting" due to this echoing presence)
and almost always in front of the underlying ensemble. Some listeners
will be overwhelmed or annoyed by the barrage of new ideas in the major
action and worship cues, a few incredible highlights never to be heard
again in the work. The overtly religious tone will bother some listeners
as well. The female vocals were a particularly interesting choice given
that most of the vocalizations you associate with Islam involve
broadcasted male prayers. Perhaps these "Westernizations" were a
contributing factor to the ridiculous fatwa issued against Rahman for
this score. He has put his stamp on the genre of religious epic and done
so with ambitious zeal, matching Mychael and Jeff Danna in the handling
of regional instrumentation as an extension of authenticity over Western
expectations. Given the protests and financial failure of the film, a
sequel to Muhammad: The Messenger of God is unlikely, sadly
potentially orphaning some of Rahman's motifs intended for later
development. As a standalone listening experience, though, it's an
outstanding worldly journey. *****@Amazon.com: CD or
Download

The insert is extensive in size, barely fitting in a jewel case when printed for the CD
release, and contains lengthy credit information, scholarly quotes about religion, and a full-size
picture for each track on the album. The CD's jewel case comes in an exterior slipcase with identical
art to that of the interior packaging.